The bear case became a lot stronger starting with the 4-19-2014 article in Barron’s that interviewed Rob Arnott where he discussed just how weak real GDP is now and has been for a long time. Then widespread acceptance of the fact of low global growth and lack of credibility of any stimulus plans in the world, including QE, ZIRP further reinforce the bear case.

Just when talk got louder in 2Q2014 of a rate rise suddenly a few months later rates tumbled and the secular stagnation theory became widely accepted. Stocks broke through their 200 DMA in October 10, 2014 …

An interesting article by AEI about the effect of collapsing oil prices on Russia explained that agricultural problems caused by Stalin took 60 years for the Soviet “bubble” to collapse. Basically the Soviets needed to import grain by selling oil and when oil plummeted in the 1980’s that burst their system’s bubble. They simply ran out of money in November, 1991 and collapsed the next month. In my opinion this shows how a bubble can go on for a very long time, although technically a bubble requires a voluntary market instead of a transaction imposed by the government.

Although this is up for debate, you may have heard that some financial experts assert the idea student loan debt is “good debt” but the fact remains that it is still debt. The best thing you can do is to pay your student loans in a timely fashion. The credit bureaus are watching to see that you pay the …